Gravis PC GamePad

The Gravis PC GamePad is a

game port The game port is a device port that was found on IBM PC compatible and other computer systems throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was the traditional connector for joystick input, and occasionally MIDI devices, until made obsolete by USB in the ...

game controller A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generation ...

produced by

Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Advanced Gravis Computer Technology, Ltd. was a manufacturer of computer peripherals and hardware. The company was founded in 1982 in British Columbia, Canada. Their most famous products were the Gravis PC GamePad The Gravis PC GamePad is a ...

first released in 1991. It was the first

gamepad A gamepad is a type of video game controller held in two hands, where the fingers (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles. Features Gamepads generally feature a set of ...

for the

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones ...

in a market then dominated by

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s. Included with the gamepad was a

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

Commander Keen ''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling platform game, platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final ga ...

'' game, episode 1, ''Marooned on Mars'', which was later replaced with the shareware episode 4, ''Secret of the Oracle'' which supported all 4 buttons. The gamepad is no longer manufactured, as Gravis was acquired in 1997 by